Bring them ALL home and let the healing begin

It’s been 2 years now that I’ve been posting these notes from Hostage Square. I am so ready to stop.

2 years of standing in the square, telling the stories of the hostages, holding posters, speaking, hoping, waiting for the day when we can finally shut this down and move on. And that day is almost here at last. ALMOST. The ceasefire that went into effect this month is fragile. We, the hostage families and supporters, are still on duty, gathering, marching, shouting “Bring them home”. Our current slogan: Until the last hostage. Yes, we are here until the last of the hostages is brought home. Only then can we begin to heal. Only once the last of our hostages is laid to rest inside our borders can we rest ourselves. This should have happened by now. Yet here we are, still waiting.

This is sadly predictable for anyone who knows anything about the partners involved. Three of the major parties want peace: the people of Israel, the people of Gaza, and the American government. Yet there are two parties who hold much more weight here, and neither of them is in a rush for peace to prevail. These two sides are Hamas and the Israeli government. Tragic, infuriating, annoyingly obvious…

The only parties who can actually make peace happen have their own agendas and motivations for prolonging the war.  After a promising, exhilarating start 3 weeks ago when 20 living hostages – living miracles – were returned, we the people had reason to hope. We saw our young men emerge from captivity, miraculously walking on their own two feet, after 2 years in tunnels, 2 years of starvation, and then last-minute forced-feedings, 2 years of torture – both physical and psychological.

Here they were: emerging one by one, each one a hero, each one an astonishing testament to the resilience of the human spirit. My own Avinatan was among these 20 young men, paraded out and handed over to the Red Cross, costumed by Hamas in pseudo-military uniforms, reportedly ordered from AliExpress for the occasion.  All of us watching were overcome with tears of joy as Avinatan and the other hostages walked upright, proud and somehow smiling, despite the torture and long period of imprisonment and immobility they had endured.

Meanwhile, Hamas is stalling, failing to comply with the ceasefire terms which called for a return of ALL the hostages – living and dead – within 72 hours.  It has now been 3 weeks. As of today, 11 hostages remain behind, with Hamas promising to release more bodies this evening. We hope that will happen, but who knows.  Promises made, promises broken, again and again.  In the past weeks, Hamas has committed every form of delaying tactic and trickery. Last week, Hamas was caught on camera faking the exhumation of hostage remains. The remains it buried and then dug up belonged to Ofir Tzarfati, whose partial remains had already been recovered by the IDF at the end of 2023. Pity the family opening a grave again and again to add more remains to their son’s eternal resting place. Just a few days ago, Hamas returned remains of unidentified people – not hostages – in yet another delaying tactic. And of course, the useless Red Cross does nothing, says nothing, not a word of protest, even though they are being used as patsies in Hamas’ schemes.

And what can I say about our own Israeli government’s delaying tactics? What can we say that has not already been said? Netanyahu does not want the fighting to end. That will only hasten the day that he is called to account for the calamity of October 7 and the ensuing two years of torment and death we have endured. The attack on October 7 was bloody enough – nearly 2,000 Israelis killed or captured, thousands more maimed. In no small part due to the Netanyahu government’s policy of funding Hamas and turning a blind eye to its war preparations. And in the past 758 days, more death and destruction: Tens of thousands of Gazans, the majority civilians, and over 900 Israeli soldiers have lost their lives in this futile, unwinnable war.

Here at Hostage Square, we still gather. We still chant, we still shout, we still wait and wait and wait for the day when we can stop this and move on with our lives. The surviving hostages are home at last. Home with their families. Home to begin to heal. We revel in each homecoming. We, the people of Israel, have become addicted to the scenes – the ride home, victorious young men who not only survived captivity, not only endured, but somehow emerged triumphant. We wish them well. We wish them health and the peace and quiet they need to heal.

On Friday at Hostage Square, I cried as I watched my friend, Dani Miran, laughing with his son, Omri, now released from captivity. Omri is now reunited with his family, his wife, and his little girls – the family I have come to know well in these 2 years at Hostage Square. On Saturday night, I hugged Hagai and Anat Angrest, parents of returned hostage, Matan. I joined the crowd applauding Einav and Matan Zangauker as they walked through the square. I stood near the 3 Horn brothers, reunited now after having been torn apart. Scenes we prayed for but almost did not dare to hope would come true.

Families reunited. Families who never gave up, who never stopped shouting, marching, praying – now whole and beginning the long road to recovery. We are joyous for every one of them. This week marks 30 years since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, a man of war who dared to make peace. Please let his legacy prevail. Please let peace come at last. Please let us put the remaining hostages to rest so that we can start the next chapter of Israel’s story. Let us grieve and let us begin to heal.